On The Money: Biden celebrates relief bill with Democratic leaders | Democrats debate fast-track for infrastructure package

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THE BIG DEAL—Biden celebrates relief bill with Democratic leaders: President Biden on Friday celebrated his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill as a measure that “puts working people in this nation first” but acknowledged that it would take “fastidious oversight” in order to ensure the bill is implemented as intended.

Biden gathered with Democratic congressional leaders in the Rose Garden Friday afternoon to declare that help is on the way for hurting Americans, a day after signing the massive relief bill into law. It marked his first major legislative achievement as president.

“It changes the paradigm. For the first time in a long time, this bill puts working people in this nation first,” Biden said. “For too long, it’s been the folks at the top.”

The Hill’s Morgan Chalfant takes us there.

‘We have to get this right’ The Rose Garden celebration capped off a remarkable legislative sprint for Biden and congressional Democrats, who stayed united behind the ambitious measure and sent it to the president’s desk in 50 days. Only one Democratic lawmaker opposed the measure on final passage, Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, when three defections in the House or one in the Senate could have killed it.

Even so, Biden acknowledged that implementing the bill would take a considerable amount of work.

“It’s one thing to pass the American Rescue Plan. It’s going to be another thing to implement it. It’s going to require fastidious oversight to make sure there is no waste or fraud and the law does what it’s designed to do,” Biden said. “We have to get this right. Details matter. Because we have to continue to build confidence in the American people that their government can function for them and deliver.”

LEADING THE DAY

Democrats debate fast-track for infrastructure package: A sweeping infrastructure and climate change package? Lowering prescription drug prices? A long-awaited immigration overhaul? With a nearly $2 trillion COVID-19 relief package now signed into law, Democrats on Capitol Hill have begun wrestling with this question: Which policy issues should they fast-track next?

The arcane budget reconciliation process would allow Democrats — who control razor-thin majorities in the House and Senate — to sidestep a GOP filibuster in the Senate and push through another massive legislation package with zero Republican votes, just as they did this month with President Biden’s American Rescue Plan. 

At the moment, Democrats are all over the map about what should be in that next package.

• Moderate Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) told The Hill she wants to take up “a truly transformative bill on prescription drug pricing,” something she says “would affect every single American in their pocketbooks.”
• House Budget Committee Chairman Chairman John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) said some of his Democratic colleagues are clamoring to pass comprehensive immigration reform using reconciliation. 

But fresh off his first major legislative victory, Biden himself says his nascent administration will turn next to a trillion-dollar infrastructure and clean energy jobs package. The Hill’s Scott Wong tells us more about the debate here.

ON TAP NEXT WEEK

Monday:

• The Brookings Institution hosts a discussion entitled “Declining competition: A transatlantic challenge” with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the IMF at 9 a.m.

Tuesday:

• The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee holds a confirmation hearing on the nomination of Julie Su to serve as Deputy Secretary of Labor at 10 a.m.
• The Senate Finance Committee holds a hearing on the impact of the U.S. tax code on domestic manufacturing at 10 a.m.
• The American Bankers Association kicks off its 2021 Washington Summit at 1 p.m.
• The Senate Banking Committee holds a hearing on the state of U.S. housing at 2 p.m.

Wednesday:

• The House Financial Services Committee holds a second hearing on the GameStop stock frenzy at 10 a.m.
• The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis will hold a hearing entitled “From Rescue to Recovery: Building a Thriving and Inclusive Post-Pandemic Economy” at 11 a.m.
• Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks to reporters after the FOMC’s March interest rate announcement at 2:30 p.m.
• The Senate Small Business Committee holds a hearing on the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) at 2:30 p.m.

Thursday:

• A House Financial Services subcommittee holds a hearing on diversity and inclusion data at 10 a.m. 
• The Senate Banking Committee holds a hearing on the financial risks of climate change at 10 a.m.
• The Senate Finance Committee holds a hearing on using trade laws to fight forced labor at 10 a.m.
• IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig testifies before a House Ways and Means subcommittee at 2:30 p.m.

GOOD TO KNOW

• A group of about 20 House and Senate Democrats are urging the Treasury Department and IRS to “take every effort” to ensure that recipients of unemployment compensation can use a tax exemption included in the coronavirus relief law that President Biden signed Thursday.
• Rising Treasury bond yields drove bank stocks higher Friday while sending technology shares tumbling and pushing the S&P 500 off of a record high.
• Rep. Kevin Brady (Texas), the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, said Friday that the IRS should “seriously consider” extending the tax-filing deadline.

ODDS AND ENDS

• Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced Friday that he has invited Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos to testify at a hearing about inequality scheduled for next week.
• The AFL-CIO knocked Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) for backing the push for Amazon unionization at an Alabama plant while simultaneously opposing a federal bill aimed at offering protections for employees trying to unionize.